The Chicago Bears brass has seen enough. A day after the team dropped its sixth consecutive game — a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field — the Bears have fired head coach Matt Eberflus.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the news. Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will become the interim head coach.
“This morning, after meeting with George and Kevin, we informed Matt of our decision to move in a different direction with the leadership of our football team and the head coaching position,” GM Ryan Poles said in a statement.
“I support Ryan and the decision that was made this morning. We understand how imperative the head coaching role is for building and maintaining a championship-caliber team, leading our players and our organization. Our fans have stood by us and persevered through every challenge, and they deserve better results. Our organizational and operational structure is strong, focused, aligned and energized for the future,” added President/CEO Kevin Warren.
While the move is historic — this is the first time the franchise has ever terminated its coach during a season — it was far from surprising, especially following the final-minute fiasco that defined Thursday’s loss in Detroit. The Bears, after rallying back from a 16-0 halftime deficit and getting within range for a game-tying field goal in the final minute, melted down under Eberflus’ watch, most notably when the Bears coach chose not to call his final timeout after a Lions sack of Caleb Williams with 32 seconds remaining. Instead, amid much commotion and disorder, the Bears only got one more snap off. And it was a desperate play at best, with Williams calling an audible and trying to hit a 41-yard game-winning touchdown to Rome Odunze. That pass wasn’t close to being completed.
The Bears lost. And, somehow, Eberflus defended his clock management after the game.
“I think we handled it the right way,” Eberflus said.
So much of the NFL world disagreed. And with the Bears and Lions as the only game on the slate early Thursday, the center-stage breakdown of Eberflus’ team was subject to a national avalanche of backlash.
Comments from Bears players in the Ford Field visitors locker room weren’t much softer with standout receiver DJ Moore lamenting that the Bears “s−−− the bed” in the final moments of Thursday’s loss and Cole Kmet wondering as time expired, “What the eff just happened?”
Eberflus’ team has been in freefall over the past month-and-a-half, squandering a 4-2 start to the season and pretty much cementing another last-place finish in the NFC North.
The anguish inside that losing skid includes an 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders when the Bears defense botched a final play Hail Mary; a 20-19 home loss to the Green Bay Packers on a blocked field goal attempt as time expired; and a 30-27 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings after the Bears rallied from 11 points down in the final minute.
And somehow Thursday’s loss was almost more unbelievable than all those that came before it.
Eberflus’ overall record with the Bears goes into the books at 14-32. That includes a 2-13 record in division games, a 3-19 mark on the road and a 5-19 record in one-score games. During Eberflus’ first two seasons, he posted a 2-13 record against opponents that qualified for the playoffs. So far this season, the Bears are 0-6 against teams currently with winning records.
The team’s inconsistency has been undeniable and their inability to excel in big moments and big games has been well-documented.
Hired in January 2022, Eberflus has long been praised inside Halas Hall — most emphatically by general manager Ryan Poles — for his ability to keep a team together through turmoil. But that turmoil has been constant over his three seasons in charge. In the midst of a roster overhaul, the Bears lost their final 10 games of the 2022 season. They started 2023 with four consecutive losses and a six-game skid this fall has torpedoed their playoff aspirations.
The turnover of Eberflus’ coaching staff has remained problematic. Earlier this month, the Bears fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron after just nine games when it became obvious the offense was falling well short of expectations and that quarterback Caleb Williams’ development was adversely affected.
Waldron had replaced Luke Getsy, who was one of five offensive coaches to be fired by Eberflus at the end of last season. Eberflus also had to fire running backs coach David Walker during the 2023 campaign due to what sources said was inappropriate conduct. A month before that dismissal, Eberflus’ defensive coordinator, Alan Williams, abruptly resigned amid odd circumstances with sources indicating that Williams’ exit was also conduct-related.
To many around the league, Eberflus’ job status was in question coming out of last season, as the Bears prepared to reboot at quarterback with the No. 1 draft pick that they eventually used on Williams.
Poles, however, emphasized his belief in Eberflus’ coaching style and ability to lift a team and pointed heavily toward a stretch of five wins in seven games the Bears had late in 2023. But that modest surge turned out to be the outlier in Eberflus’ coaching performance.
Now, the Bears will once again search for a new coach, entering that market for the fourth time since the end of the 2014 season. Poles’ long-term job security also remains in question as the Bears seek solutions to pull themselves out of this latest tailspin.
This is a developing story and will be updated.